Stanley Cup rioters will face little punishment

It’s now just about one year since the Vancouver Stanley Cup riot took place and, lo and behold, all’s quiet on the Western front. After all, in contrast to the swift justice dealt those London rioters, here in B.C. we take things a little more slowly, secure in the knowledge that our own Stanley Cup rioters and looters will ultimately be dealt with by the firm hand of our justice system, meting out our very own unique action brand of Canadian justice.

No doubt, Canada’s all-purpose Charter of Rights and Freedoms will come to the “rescue” of all those who, in response to being charged with criminal conduct during their post-playoff love-in, will argue that their Charter rights to free expression were violated.

Surely, that’s the Canadian way, assuring that none of the looters and arsonists will see the inside of a jail cell, but instead will have to face the consequences of their actions. They’ll be subjected to the “full” force of Canada’s tough judicial system by being made to endure the indignity of house arrest and the severe punishment of conditionally suspended sentences.

Indeed, can a class action suit against the City of Vancouver be far behind, on behalf of all rioters whose pictures were taken without their explicit “consent,” in clear violation of their Charter Rights to personal “privacy?”

Their contrived public “mea culpas” notwithstanding, somehow the rioters will manage to emerge unscathed as the true “victims” of Vancouver’s 2011 post-game riot, ready to go on a rampage again, seeking their own kind of “redemption.”